16 hour fasts on non-fast days

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  • Discuss what you do or don’t do and why

    No one here seems to talk about it but its mentioned in the book and on other sites that talk about intermittent fasting, most people seem to be trying to eat within a window of a fixed period.

    Why aren’t people here doing it?

    Or are you?

    it seems to me if people want to increase the benefit of possible longevity it gains one should fast as much as possible and it would make sense to do the 16 hour fast every day.

    I tried it before then decided against it and now i’m trying it again. My idea is to eat a big breakfast when i feel like it. And then i should be finished all eating and food drinking 8 hours later. So today breakfast was between 9-10am so my last meal will be between 4-5pm. Oops and i’ve just realised its after 4pm i better get going.

    I don’t know if this is going to work for me but i do know other people who eat only two meals a day and feel good with it. So i might as well see how it goes. It should save time to prepare only two meals.

    Hi Pattience.

    I’m maintaining now, and do 16:8 most days. I’m rarely hungry first thing so eat at maybe 11-11.30 earliest. I often have natural full fat yoghurt and fruit or porridge, maybe a light lunch and evening meal at 8ish. Some days I eat only the yoghurt or the lunch, depends how I feel. I don’t eat processed carbs or sugar during the week.

    I did this while on 5:2 but with 2 low cal days. The difference now is that I don’t aim for 500 cals on any day (even 6:1 and 16:8 leads to further weight loss for me now), but I do think the restricted eating window limits the opportunities to overeat! And I think the 16 hour fast is important for insulin reduction, fat burning, etc.

    I now realise I was an inadvertent IFer in my 20s/30s as I never did eat first thing, so was naturally doing 16:8. I maintained a healthy weight and only started gaining when I was brainwashed into believing breakfast was the most important meal of the day!

    Good luck with the experiment.

    Hi Pattience! I never eat breakfast either and quite often used to skip lunch so it is fairly easy for me not to eat anything until 6.30pm at night which is homemade soup and then a light snack about 10.30pm (to get me through the night). I have only been on the diet since Mon and lost 3.8 lbs which I am happy with. Next FD is Fri and looking forward to it bizarrely! V xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

    HappyNow: I know what you mean about inadvertent fasting, I was the same — frequently didn’t eat any breakfast, until I started after being told it would ‘kickstart my metabolism’, and then found it hard to lose weight! Just wondering how it works for you cutting out sugar? In my non-breakfast days I was (and am) a massive sugar junkie — would frequently replace healthy meals with sugary foods, (probably) actually consumed less calories because it killed my appetite (at the expense of my teeth, mood, and long term health and happiness). You mentioned you cut them out during the week — do you find you overdo it on weekends to compensate? And how do you think it combines with your willpower to maintain 5:2 (and 16:8)? Just curious about what could work — might not apply if you don’t find it hard to cut down on the sweet stuff!

    Just taken my measurements and sadly, my thigh circumference is what my waist used to be when I was in high school – what happened????? Oh god please let this work lol xxxxxxx

    Hi Patience, I am doing this! On non fast days I skip breakfast and have lunch around 1.30pm after a 30 minute walk at lunchtime at work. I try and work it that I walk again when I get home (at 7pm – longish commute) and eat before 8.30pm. I did this even before I started 5:2 and 4:3. Feel so much better. Are you doing it? How are you feeling? Dawn

    Hi again… downloaded a free e book for my kindle by Caitlin Collins called The Fast Diet Magic Book. She talks through her experiences of fasting and compares options and results. Its a really good book and I enjoyed her style and her honesty. I learnt a lot and use it to motivate me and keep me on track too. Dawn

    I love breakfast but i have noticed that in the last little while i am not actually hungry when i get up. I’d be happy with a coffee so going without breakfast means i should also go without my coffee for a while too. But i can at least eat when i feel like it doing this 8 hour eating window.

    So today because my meals were substantial, i wasn’t hungry between meals and i wasn’t even hungry when i started my dinner meal. But now its 10pm and i could easily eat something but i’m fine. I just know whatever i do, i should avoid wine or coffee because this affects either my appetite or sleep at this time of night.

    Blosie, i quit sugar. Today i actually made crumble as in apple crumble with only a few bits of dried fruit in it, no sugar at all. I haven’t used sugar as in for sweet foods since early january. I couldn’t do it on weekends and cut it out during the week. That would require too much willpower equivalent to be allowed to smoke only on weekends. Some people could do that but not me.

    Meanwhile i allow myself sweet foods in what i consider low risk situations and sometimes its still quite hard. So my low risk situations are if someone else offers it to me at their place or when i’m out and about or if i was at a restaurant with other people. So far this year i’ve only 6 serves of dessert/cake in such situations and no lollies or chocolate or ice-cream. I’ve been offered things at time (lollies) and had no trouble saying no. The only times i found this particularly hard was at a buffet like situation where there was a lot of dessert spread out in front of me and you could have what you wanted. But my rule is only one serve is allowed. So stuck to that but wasn’t easy when i had to pass up the pavlova in favour of the xmas pudding and the other time it was tough because a) there not much other food to eat and b) the desserts were tiny and on the table in front of me the whole time.

    I’m afraid to break my rules so i don’t. If i break my rules i usually tend to give up completely. I find it much easier to stick to my rules rigidly.

    Its only recently that i’ve started experimenting with making sugar free desserts. Of course i’ve stewed fruit and fresh fruit have always been permitted but i don’t add sugar except to rhubarb where its essential to make it palatable. the idea is that its the sweetness of food that is a problem for me. Nowadays i can enjoy the slight sweetness of seeds and natural yoghurt on fresh fruit or be happy with porridge with just milk . I do eat a little bit of dried fruit but i know can’t have to restrain myself with it. If i was feeling myself leaning towards a binge on dried figs and nuts, then i’d have to do something about it.

    I feel that if i can stick with my program in a somewhat obsessive way for about a year, well with passing time, i just get stronger.

    But my life is not without sweet things altogether. Yes i rarely have those normal sorts of sweet things, or soft drink, but its not something i’m particularly drawn to so i don’t need to limit coke. I don’t limit alcohol because its not a problem for me. But if i found myself guzzling Baileys Irish Cream every day, then i’d have to do something about it being in the house and my rules on it. Actually talking about this now is starting to make me a bit peckish, so i’d better stop.

    Hi blosie,

    I’m not overcompensating at weekends (at the moment!). 5:2 has reduced my appetite and I just can’t comfortably eat as much as previously. I recognize feeling full now, and stop. And I’m a lot more mindful now.

    Also I did cut out processed sugar completely for maybe the first 16 weeks (initially on fast days only, but this quickly reduced cravings on all days). I now find a lot of sugary ‘treats’ really horribly sickly (to the extent that I’m shocked at how sweet Heinz baked beans are!) I do now eat ‘treat’ food again, but bear in mind it’s only a treat if it’s occasional! And I usually find I can be satisfied with a smaller portion.

    I think the 16 hour fast helps regulate insulin, and my first meal (full fat natural yoghurt and fruit) fills me up and doesn’t send me down the carb/sugar route. And if I find myself looking for something snacky I reach for cheese or nuts.

    So, no, I don’t have an uncontrollable sweet tooth any more. Age or 5:2/16:8? Who knows! But I’m pleased I can say no to cake because I don’t want it, and not because I think I ought not to eat it!

    Not sure I’ve answered your question or just rambled…. Sorry!

    Hi Pattience,

    When I started the FAST Diet I had a harder time adjusting to the fast days than I anticipated. I would become irritable and moody. For the first few weeks I found that when I got my 500 calories from complex carbs (plain oatmeal) I felt better. I transitioned that to mostly very lean protein (fat-free cottage cheese) and about 28% complex carbs (sprouted multi-grain bread). That works fine for me, which means I can handle it, not that I enjoy it. I focus on the goal and tough it out.

    On my fast days I usually eat at about noon and at about 6 PM. on non fast days I don’t eat after 9 PM. So I’m not going 16 hours between meals.

    9PM to Noon the next day = 15 hours
    Noon to 6 PM = 6 hours
    6 PM to 6 AM the following day = 12 hours

    If I had to I could probably manage just one meal on a fast day, but I don’t know if there would be great rewards in doing so.

    Did I miss something in the book? Are Fast days supposed to be single-meal days?

    Fast:

    You did not miss anything. Many people find a single, high fat/protein meal in the evening works best for them, but it is not ‘required’. 16:8 and its offspring are sort of a fad that some people like because they think it helps them eat less during the day. http://thefastdiet.co.uk/forums/topic/52-calorie-restriction-v-fasting-for-newbies/

    Hmmm, simcoeluv. If you’re labelling 16:8 as ‘a sort of a fad’ then I think that label must also apply to 5:2 itself!

    16:8 is just another form of intermittent fasting. It’s been around for a lot longer than 5:2.

    Indeed, I maintained a healthy weight for a number of years a lot of years ago by eating 16:8 (before I knew there was a name for that way of eating!).

    It doesn’t promise weight loss. It doesn’t automatically lead to calorie restriction. But there do appear to be benefits from the longer fast window. The study of the effects of meal frequency for diabetes appears to support longer fasting frequencies while eating TDEE for health?

    Thanks HappyNow! It’s helpful to hear your sweet tooth has been moderated… I’m the same, I want not to have sugar because I don’t want it, not because I use willpower to cut it out (although if that’s working for you Pattience more power to you! It’s what works psychologically for a person). I’ve only been on 5:2 about four weeks, but I can already feel a change in appetite — not feeling hungry in the mornings on non-fast days, being full sooner and not wanting to eat when I’m not hungry. Think I may trial try some combination of 16:8/just not eating breakfast non-fast days too.

    Do either of you find that it’s about changing habits as well? I’m finding that I’ll often look forward to a meal, only by the time it arrives I’m not hungry anymore — but have been eating it anyway because I feel like I was promised it (and because if I need to leave the house, it’s hard to find healthier choices later on!). It’s hard to know whether forming new habits is about trying to eat at regular times each day, so your body knows when to be hungry, or playing it more by ear and just eating whenever. What have you found?

    And simcoeluv, for me a 16:8 thing is more psychological, and fitting in with what I think my body wants — I’m finding the 5:2 is changing how I’d like to eat on non-fasting days. But the book does seem to suggest that the fasting period isn’t only calorie restriction, and that it’s not until several hours after a meal that your body starts to burn fat — although I’ve read your other post, and I am sceptical of this idea. Doesn’t it seem that’s what every diet is promising — a way to ‘maximise’ calorie restriction, by somehow burning more energy than you would by calorie restriction alone?

    Hi Happy:

    Most people that eat normal breakfasts, lunches and dinners fast for over 20 hours a day. As you point out, 16:8 carries no calorie restriction, and depends on the person to eat less than their TDEE during their 8 hour window to lose weight. There is no clinical evidence that a normal, overweight person benefits from not eating for 16 hours. The studies on diabetics deal with people taking many different, potent drugs and any evidence from those studies cannot be automatically transferred to non-diabetic people. The lab studies on rats/mice, which led to the 16:8 book, are not helpful. 16 hours of not eating for a mouse equals 4+ days of not eating for a human.

    As my post points out, if someone feels only eating in a ‘window’ helps them eat less, fine. But there is no evidence that it confers health benefits on a human. My observation is that 16:8 was pretty much dead until 5:2 came along. It had made its splash, and died when people found out it just didn’t work all that well. 16:8 then resurfaced as an easier alternative to 5:2 – as you can eat as much as you want to eat – that still is unproven for weight loss or other health benefits.

    I will happily change my opinion if shown some proof that some health benefits accrue to people following it. But if someone just says they lost weight doing 16:8, I will counter that they just ate below their TDEE by choice, not because of some kind of 8 hour eating limit. Anyone can eat twice their TDEE in 8 hours if they want to, and often do it in far less time.

    sim, i am just reading the book and mimi or is it michele also talk about doing 16:8. That’s why i decided to have another go.

    Its no more faddish than 5:2. Frankly EVERYTHING is a fad in dieting/weightloss circles. Things come and go all the time. Just you watch what happens here.

    That’s not to say that some fads are not good.

    Anyway don’t forget if you are counting fasting hours, then its not from the time you start eating but from the time you finish eating. so its not noon-6pm but more like 1-6pm.

    The reason i don’t try to eat one meal is that a lot of your calories would have to be fat at a cost of nutrition in order to be able to physically eat it. But i do know of at least two people who do that. I find 2 meals is quite comfortable for me but spread them out over 8 hours so i can have a 16 hour fast in case that stuff about the IGF-! gene is true. But it also means i don’t have to spend so much time cooking if i eat twice instead of thrice.

    Blosie i adopted my no sugar thing because i thought it would be easier for me and it is. Most of my days involve no willpower whatsoever. Its only twice this year that i’ve had to work hard at it and i would say that clearly my wish to resist was much stronger than my wish to indulge. Its only when i eat sugar that i need to apply willpower. So if i was eating it more often, i’d need to apply it more often.

    i find my strategy easier and ultimately more successful. I have tried moderation in the past. I am successful until the next stress episode turns up. Or until some whim wins out. Then i’m a goner.

    But as you say we have to do what we think will work for us.

    I only quit sugar after long periods of eating far too much of it.

    Simon, I take it by health benefits you mean, weightloss. I am not doing the 16:8 for weightloss but for what i mean by health benefits. Ie the IGF-1 thing that is discussed in the show and as mentioned that michael or mimi refer to int eh book. I think its actually michele in the section where talks about his own experience. I can’t remember.

    Anyway, i didn’t know there was a 16:8 book. Never heard of it. I would not bother with 16:8 for weightloss.

    You have to eat below TDEE for weightloss. I do that regardless of how many hour i fast for.

    As to changing habits. yes this whole project is about changing habits.

    Habits about what we eat, how often we eat, when we eat, how much we eat. And also everything else. At least it is for me because i am no longer eat like i used to do when i wasn’t on a diet.

    At the beginning of my year with dieting, i began eating at morning, then at midday, then later afternoon/early evening to prevent hunger. That was a very good system as i am all about preventing unnecessary hunger.

    I also eat more vegies and fibre and nutrition because that reduces hunger and increase health.

    I eat less sugar because of the space it makes for more calories and appetite for healthier foods. And makes me lose my taste for it too.

    Yes changing habits is a big part of any diet if you want to sustain the health and weight benefits you’ve made.

    With my diet i tend to do a lot more cooking but i am enjoying that. And yes of course food outside is not so healthy. But i sometimes like it for a change. And that’s why when an opportunity to eat sweets comes up or to eat something different, i will usually take it because its outside my own routine which has a benefit i can’t articulate concisely at the moment. e.g. the other day i was having drinks with friends from work. I’d already eaten dinner ands wasn’t hungry, but someone ordered prawns with thousand island dressing and lemon for the table. So i had a few to help her out when others weren’t doing their bit. I passed on the chips but i like chips so down the track when my weight is at goal, i will probably have them from time to time just for fun. Also i don’t want to eat things that are too moreish. Its easy to keep eating chips. I had 2 glasses of champagne that day as well.

    Hi simcoeluv,

    I agree 16:8 is not a weight loss diet.

    I don’t agree 16:8 has only been revived by 5:2, it’s just a pattern of eating that naturally suits some people! And now we know that a hearty cereal based breakfast isn’t actually the most important meal of the day, a lot of people who aren’t early morning eaters can stop feeling pressured to eat early and eat 16:8 or 15:9 or 20:4 or however suits.

    I’m not sure it’s helpful to suggest that the small window between breakfast and lunch or lunch and evening meal count towards a 20 hour fast for normal people.

    I do agree we don’t have scientific evidence of benefits, but studies do appear to suggest that longer windows without food can help regulate insulin and so may have a role in weight maintenance.

    What I do know is that I ate this way naturally in the past, and maintained a healthy weight. My weight gain began when I started eating an early (and often bread or cereal based) breakfast. I didn’t lose weight by reverting to 16:8, I lost weight by practicing 5:2 (and 16:8). Since reaching my goal I have been maintaining by 16:8 and can’t even do a 6:1 without losing more weight.

    So for me to carry on practicing 5:2 or 6:1 and not lose more weight, I would have to eat in a way that does not feel natural for me (i.e. start eating breakfast again/ effectively overeat on 5 or 6 days of the week). And as I have not seen any scientific proof that 6:1 offers any significant health benefits (for me) over and above regular 16:8, I am going to carry on maintaining my weight loss in a way that is natural and proven (for me).

    Each to their own

    Hi blosie, it’s definitely about changing habits for me. Obviously some people want to continue to eat cake everyday, and 5:2 allows them to do that. I’m more than happy to go without daily cake and for it to be an occasional treat. More calories to ‘spend’ on food with nutritional benefit!

    And yes, last Saturday I was busy and realised it was 2pm and thought I ought to eat something. And then realised I wasn’t actually hungry! So I waited until I was….

    Hi Happy:

    It seems that some people using the 16:8 terminology do not understand it came from a diet book. This may account for differences in opinion as to the effectiveness of 16:8, as people, although using the same terminology, are not talking about the same thing.

    I will let the book speak for itself, and drop the subject:

    “In The 8-Hour Diet, bestselling authors David Zinczenko and Peter Moore present a paradigm-shifting plan that allows readers to eat anything they want, as much as they want—and still strip away 20, 40, 60 pounds, or more. . . .

    Based on their interviews, research, and test panel results, they determined that readers can lose remarkable amounts of weight eating the foods they like best—as long as they eat within a set 8-hour time period. . . .

    Zinczenko and Moore demonstrate how simply observing this timed-eating strategy, even just three days a week, will reset a dieter’s metabolism so that he or she can enter fat-burning mode first thing in the morning—and stay there all day long. . . .”

    Perhaps, instead of using the term 16:8, people could use the term skipping meals, or eating less. Enough said.

    To answer the original question.. my personal approach has been to eat in a 4 hour evening window.. I did try other patterns.. but found the cal counting 2 or 3 times a day just too exhausting and like Happy the skipping meals thing was pretty much what I was doing when I was a healthy weight before I put on what I have now lost..

    I am now in maintenance mode .. I still do a fast day in which I only eat in the evening .. usually after 7pm. In addition I tend to skip meals during the week.. typically only eating breakfast at the weekend when it is often more of a “brunch”.. as I prefer to be up and about for a few hours before eating.. and given my lie in habit at the weekend this means eating around 11 – 12am and then in the evening.

    Ultimately as the book says finding an eating pattern that suits you is the key

    Simcoeluv,

    Thanks for explaining that. I was unaware that there was a 16:8 book (the fast diet book being the first and only diet book I have ever owned).

    However, instead of suggesting that people who fast for 16 hours each day stop calling their practice ’16:8′, perhaps when referring to the book version we could call it the ’16:8 diet’? There are many IF resources on the web that use the term 16:8 to refer to a way of eating and not specifically to a diet book….

    Having just googled the book you refer to Simco, it isn’t the 16:8 diet, it’s the 8 hour diet book. It didn’t invent 16:8, 16:8 pattern of eating existed prior to this book.

    So to avoid confusion, can I suggest that people who are referring to the 8 hour diet do just that. And those of us who understand 16:8 to be a pattern of eating unrelated to another ‘fad’ diet continue to use the term 16:8?

    [post removed by request]

    versy you made me laugh!

    Iwillbe12st : I sincerely apologise for my outburst. On reflection I was too harsh and a tad sassy. I don’t know how to take the post down – sorry about that. V xxxxxxxxxxxxxx

    I don’t think you can take it down. I just think we all have to live with it.

    Hi versy2010

    You can have the post you regret removed just by ‘reporting’ it yourself. Go on to the thread, to the post in question and you will see at the top right of it the words ‘report post’ – just click on that and leave a message asking to have it removed.
    I would have thought someone on here could have advised you of this facility in a bid to help you……

    PreciousBooBoo

    You are so kind Boo and I have done that. Moment of madness. xxxx

    Well all I can say is byeeee… @versy2010 I don’t need this forum you can keep it 🙂

    For anyone wondering why this is what versy2010 wrote

    10:44 pm 28 Aug 14

    To Iwillbe12st : Just to let you know, I started this diet on Monday. I’ve lost 4lb since then and was enjoying reading people’s experiences regarding to what works for them and what I should be eating. But THEN I came across this that you wrote :- …..

    A 4 HOUR EVENING WINDOW!!!!!! You did try other patterns!!!! Christ you put me to sleep. There is no f*****g secret – just eat less you dozy git.”

    Hi Iwillbe12st

    Was there any need for that? Versy2010 has apologised to you sincerely and I advised her how to have the post removed and she has done that.
    If you had of just given the moderator a bit of time to delete it – it is Friday night, he won’t be there – it would have no longer been in existence.

    Did you have to re-print it again? I don’t think so.

    To Iwillbe12st. I thought i posted to you earlier but I can’t find it anywhere. Just to say that I understand how hurt you are and that I would have probably reacted in the same way. It would be such a shame to lose your input and experience and I hope you can forgive and forget. Please re-consider and come back soon.

    Well I’ve been quiet on this, much to my shame. I read what Versy wrote and thought it extremely rude. But it was not directed at me and, given my recent experience of being ‘bullied’ (my perception, and I’m sure not the intention of the perpetrator), I did not post a response.

    To Versy’s credit, she did apologise. But the damage was done.

    And Boo, once again you are involved. You posted here to let Versy know that she could get the post removed. You also posted on LOACA, cryptically, to let Versy know you had posted here and suggested she reported her own post and also your post to get them both deleted and help her remove her ‘faux pas’.

    The ‘victim’ in all this is Iwillbe. Not Versy, not you. Outrageous to challenge Iwi for re-posting! I assume that Iwi re-posted Versy’s post so there is a record that you can not delete of the reason why she is leaving this forum.

    This forum will be a poorer place for her leaving.

    It’s childish to leave a forum because one person left a rude comment and especially after the poster apologised. I bet Iwill has made enough rude comments in her time. It’s a rare person who never makes a rude comment.

    HappyNow

    It has nothing to do with you if I have involved myself in this! ‘Outrageous’ in fact.

    Because your perception of me is so skewed; you cannot recognise someone who was trying to resolve this situation.
    Note – no-one else on this forum or this thread bothered to help versy2010 when she clearly didn’t know how to ‘remove’ the offending post.
    The wording in her post was extremely remiss BUT she had already apologised – TWICE – and clearly stated that she didn’t know how to ‘take it down’.

    Not that it is any of your business but I did leave her a message on THE LOACA thread to nudge her to go and look at my very well intentioned advice for her – advice which was given solely to ‘pour oil on troubled waters’.

    YOU CANNOT CONTACT SOMEONE ON THIS FORUM DIRECTLY IN PRIVATE TO LEAVE THEM A MESSAGE! DID YOU NOT KNOW THAT?
    If that facility was available then I would have taken that option and achieved the same outcome but without attracting more misplaced disparaging attention to myself.

    That clearly wouldn’t occur to you because you are so determined to find a negative motive for anything I say or do…

    My perception was that if the offending post was deleted and then mine referring to it; then the thread could have continued as before without any discordant posts within it.

    Versy2010 – I wish heartily I had just kept out of this – like everyone else did; my very well intentioned gesture has stirred up even more unpleasantness and I am quite literally damned if I do and damned if I don’t.

    To Iwillbe12st
    don’t leave, it really is important to have support from other fasters (most of whom are sincere and supportive). Someone cared enough to report that very offensive post and it has been removed. I have to agree with HappyNow and say that I also saw the original comment and thought I should have reported it and didn’t.
    And there is nothing “childish” in being upset by the extraordinarily offensive comment made to you.
    with very best wishes and I hope you stay with us (there are other very supportive threads)
    Vicki

    Hi Boo,

    I appreciate that you were trying to help Versy. Unfortunately in doing so it appears that you forgot to consider Iwillbe’s feelings.

    Hi vicki

    I’m not sure you have the gist of this situation – the person who wrote the offending post ‘reported’ it herself! Because she was sorry – which you can plainly see if you read the pertinent posts properly.
    So she ‘cared enough’ to want it removed!

    I can’t manage 5:2 anymore, even though I did successfully for over 6 months. Met my goal, continued for another 1,5 months, but now I become a hangry monster on thursdays. Monday fasts are still ok.

    So now I do 6:1, and add a 16:8 on thursdays and saturdays. This compromise seems to work for me at the moment. Hope I still reap health benefits.

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